• Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones — one of the great fantasy authors of all time (my favorite of her books is the strange and lovely Dogsbody, the story of a celestial being who is stripped of his powers and exiled into the body of a dog on earth). Howl’s Moving Castle is one of her finest books. Kindle price: $1.99.

• The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, the first in her highly acclaimed series of Attolia novels. Kindle price: $1.99.

• Seekers #1: The Quest Begins by Erin Hunter. Hunter’s Warriors books, about rival clans of anthropomorphic cats, have been the hands-down favorites of my middle two daughters for the past four years, trumping even Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and Betsy-Tacy. Seekers is a a spinoff series, like Warriors but with bears. Kindle price: $1.99.

• Mindblind by Jennifer Roy. A compelling YA novel about a boy with Asperger’s Syndrome striving to use his mathematical gifts in a way that makes a contribution to the world—his personal definition of genius. Kindle price: $1.99.

• Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel. This one is temporarily flagged as “under review,” but it looks like its December Kindle price is going to be $1.99, and it’s worth checking back later in the month to see if the buy button has been restored. UPDATED 12/5: It’s back, and it is indeed $1.99. A fascinating story about a man’s quest to build a clock that would keep time at sea in order to solve a thorny navigation problem that had led to the deaths of countless sailors over the centuries.

Here’s the complete list of 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or less for the month of December. I’ll be loading up my Kindle Fire with several of the books above. My kids still prefer hard copies, but I confess I’ve reached the point where I’m yearning for ebook versions of my old favorites — I’ve become pretty attached to the joys of a built-in light and enlargeable fonts. How about you?

How I discovered her quite late, and regret it. Had I been British, I’d probably have read her since my childhood. What a joy and glory it would have been !

How I love her characters, strong, clever and funny, both male and female ones — which is rarer than you’d think.

How she was herself strong, clever and funny, for example when she’s explaining to children how to write (“Most teachers will tell you that you need to make a careful plan of your story before you start. This is because most teachers do not write stories.” I’m a teacher myself, you see, so I’m allowed to laugh.)